2004 Dakota, 4.7, 2WD, 545RFE automatic. Transmission came out of a 2007 Chrysler Aspen that got totaled with 37K miles on it. I have put 16K miles on it with no problems until yesterday. It has mainly been used around town as a daily driver, never towed anything, and we have never rawhided it. I was 5 miles from the end of a 300 mile road trip to the beach, and the truck just kind of hiccupped and the check engine light came on. Cruise was set at 70 mph, and truck went right on like nothing happened. Got to the end of the off ramp, and when I went to pull out.....the trans hadn't shifted back down. I pulled it down in low, and shifted it manually, and it seemed fine. I drove it to Autozone today, and got the dude to run the scan tool on it. No codes stored, and it had seemed fine on the 10 mile trip up the interstate, to get to Autozone. When i left there, it did it again, but this time, it also did not shift into OD when I got back on the interstate. Luckily, my wife has her car here at the beach too. Now I gotta take her car back home, hook the car trailer to my diesel, load her car and go back to the beach. Then load the Dakota up to bring it home when I go home from the beach on the 10th. Lot of work and driving, but cheaper than getting it towed!
Anybody have trouble with a 545RFE like this before? I called my trusted transmission guy at home, and he said it might be solenoid packs in the transmission. Fluid is full and clean, and there are no leaks. He also said he has seen some Dodge trucks have connector problems under the bottom of the underhood fuse box. Any help or ideas appreciated.